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People in the U.S. and Canada use IE at work but swap to Chrome at home

Investigation by ad network and statistics company Chitika has revealed that people appear to be using Google’s Chrome browser more in the evenings, even as they use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer during the day. This indicates that IE retains its popularity during the workday, but those same users switch to Chrome when they get home.

The peak hours of IE from the early AM EST through the early afternoon, capturing over 50% of all browsing usage across Chitika’s network in the U.S. and Canada. Chrome usage cranks up on an almost inverse scale, reaching peaks of 24.6% in the evenings, when IE use is at a low ebb.

The company attributes the use of IE during the workday to constraints of corporate policy. In other words, those people using IE would gladly turn to Chrome if their IT departments would let them, but they’re stuck, so that’s what they use.

Sounds reasonable to me. I haven’t used Internet Explorer voluntarily in years, even when my primary computer was a PC. As our own Drew Olanoff says, “it’s like the tech version of a mullet, IE in the front and Chrome in the back.”